This beautiful adult male lion with a black mane was with his brother. They are a known coalition in this part of Botswana's Chobe National Park. He is about 10 years old and in his prime. They were both totally relaxed and hanging out together. There is no doubt that he is smiling.
We know this is a big male because of his "boss" or fused horns and white eye rings. His job is to protect the young and the females and he certainly let us know that. Cape Buffalo are undomesticatable because they are so unpredictable, but I have read that they also have long memories and can behave with affection towards people they've known years earlier.
These are bachelor males, which form a sub-heard of individuals 4 to 7 years of age. During the dry season they are a bachelor herd, but rejoin the females for the duration of the wet season to mate and protect the calves. Adult males "play and spar".
